Google+ eyes 400m users by end 2012

Google Inc is adding 625,000 new users a day to the Google+ social-networking service, which may total 400 million members by the end of next year, according to independent analysis of its growth.

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc is adding 625,000 new users a day to the Google+ social-networking service, which may total 400 million members by the end of next year, according to independent analysis of its growth.

The site's popularity has accelerated in recent weeks, with almost a quarter of its total user base joining in December alone, said Paul B. Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com Inc, who tracks the numbers as Google+'s "unofficial statistician."

Google, the world's largest Internet-search company, aims to challenge the social-networking supremacy of Facebook Inc, which has more than 800 million users. Google+ was introduced earlier this year as a test project and then opened up to the public in September. The service had 40 million users in October, Google said at the time.

Google+ may be benefiting from the popularity of Google's Android mobile operating system, which makes it easy to sign up. As the service gains traction, more people will invite family and friends to join, further accelerating its growth, Allen said in a Google+ posting. Allen works at FamilyLink.com, a company he helped start in 2006 with other Ancestry.com co-founders.

Facebook, meanwhile, is said to be preparing an initial public offering, helping it generate funds for expansion. The company is considering raising about $10 billion in the IPO, which would value Facebook at more than $100 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said last month.